Skeletal Milan dispatches local champions Bandung

Skeletal Milan dispatches local champions Bandung

JAKARTA (JP): Intercity amateur champions Persib Bandung were
given a rare chance on Saturday to test their mettle against one
of the strongest club sides in the world. Hopefully they came
away with a new understanding of why the word "amateur" is in
their title.

Faced with Italian and European Champions AC Milan, Persib did
not rise to the occasion. With the exception of national
midfielder Yudi Guntara, who hurled his Diego Maradona-like body
into the action as much as possible, Persib played with
sheepishness unbecoming in a champion.

The Italians came in still smarting from their recent 2-1 loss
to World Cup-bound Colombia and soothed their wounded pride by
finding the back of the Persib net eight times while blanking
them at the other end of the field.

Milan, currently on a world tour to cover the costs of those
expensive off-season transfers, cannot be held responsible for
what they did to Persib yesterday; it remains to be seen though,
if criminal charges can be brought against promoter Eddy Sofyan
for sending the Persib babes to wolves of the professional wood.

A professional opponent from the Indonesian Liga, perhaps,
would have staved off the abject humiliation visited upon the
Bandung blues.

The gulf between the two sides was never more clear than
during one of Persib's token appearances in the Milan box, when
the towering Marcel Desailly inserted himself between the
diminutive Sutiono and the speculative through ball he was trying
to run down. It went straight to the heart, like watching Charles
Atlas kick sand in the face of a 98 pound weakling.

The US$25,000 on offer to Persib Bandung for a victory over
the Milanese tourists might as well have been a million, because
they had as much chance of collecting the bounty as they did of
winning the now defunct state lottery.

Flat defense

While a flat Persib defense kept the score-sheet clean going
into the 20th minute of the match, by the 21st the tourists had
built a two goal lead through the offices of explosive
Montenegrin striker Dejan Savicevic.

Both goals resulted from a situation Persib knew they would
have to avoid going into the match; a Milan player with the ball
and only one Persib marker to impede his progress. Savicevic was
perhaps the player for whom this approach was most important.

On the first strike, he took a pass at the top of the box,
nudged the ball to his right and was off to the races with a
nifty no-look finish to the far post.

On the second, barely 30 seconds later, he brought the ball
down the right wing, ran out of space at the end of the pitch and
threw the ball towards the center of the Persib goal. He found a
Persib shin, which helpfully directed the ball past the line.

Their third goal three minutes later also came from the right
flank, which was the most productive spot all day for the
visitors. Cristian Panucci found the head of Milan glamor boy
Gianluigi Lentini in another move that ignored, more than
defeated, the Persib defense.

And so it went. The ease with which Milan scored gave their
goals a pedestrian caste-- the one moment of real beauty coming
in the 79th minute, when Nando De Napoli went home with a
perfectly timed left-footed volley of a cross, also from the
right flank.

This was not a Milan that we will be seeing much of in the
near future. The club has been stripped down to the bare bones by
former boss Arrigo Sacchi, who has taken six starters from the
side which crushed Barcelona for the European title to fill his
Italian World Cup squad.

Coach Fabio Capello, perhaps recognizing that his boys will
not have as much ease in upcoming games with the Chinese and
Australian national teams, let his players loose to the goal, not
the usual approach in Milan's boring 1-0 Serie A victories last
season.

What made this possible was Persib coach Ateng Wahyudi's
decision, either courageous or foolhardy, to go for goal a bit
himself. His only real hope would have been to pack his players
into the defensive half of the field, choking the Italian attack
by depriving it of oxygen with sheer numbers.

This was the tactic employed by the all-stars from Liga when
they played Sampdoria last month, and it brought them a better
result. While the game was not as close as the 3-2 score in favor
of Sampdoria would suggest, they managed to keep it respectable
by adjusting their game to slow down their dangerous opponents.
(djm)

Teams

Persib: Aries Rinaldi, Dede Iskandar, Nandang Kurnaedi, Roby
Darwis, Roy Darwis, Yadi Mulyadi, Asep Kustiana/Asep
Sumantri/Mulyana, Sutiono, Yusuf Bachtiar, Yudi Guntara, Kekey
Zakaria/Asep Roni.

AC Milan: Mario Lelpo/Sebastiano Rossi, Christian Panucci/Stetano
Torrisi, Alessandro Orlando/Roberto Orenzini, Gianluca
Sordo/Fernando Denapoli, Fillipo Galli, Sjcegno Nava, Gianluigi
Lentini, Marcel Desailly/Angelo Carbone, Giovanni Stroppa/Stefano
Desideri, Dejan Savicevic/Christian Lantignotti, Paolo Baldeiri.